💱 Best UAE cards for foreign FX spend: April 2025
- Kacper Duda
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 15
As the heat intensifies in the UAE, many of us will be thinking of our summer escapes. But is your wallet ready for that?
If you use the wrong credit card abroad, your bank may charge you in excess of 5% in various FX fees. No one wants that so read on to find out:
How to understand your card’s FX charges
Best UAE cards for spending abroad
In the news: 'Tariffs' is the buzzword of the week. How will they impact life in the UAE?
Understanding the costs of using a credit card abroad
Most of us know that selecting the local currency when prompted by the card terminal is always the cheaper way to pay for items bought abroad (if you didn't know, now you do!).
Even when you do that, there are two types of FX conversion costs that apply:
Bank charges – Majority of UAE card issuers apply a charge for using your card abroad. These charges generally vary from 2-4% of the transaction amount but the best cards don’t charge them at all.
Visa / Mastercard processing fees – On top of the bank charges, the network providers also charge an FX processing fee. Processing fees are consistent between cards, usually in the region of 1.15%, however, best-in-class cards waive or offset this fee.
If you don’t pay attention you could easily be overpaying by 4-5% on all your holiday spend.
It is worth noting that if you have a cashback card that pays cashback on your foreign spend you could already be offsetting some of these costs.
Checking your own card’s FX costs
The easiest way to understand your card’s FX costs is to check recent transactions on your statement from when you used it abroad. The description should contain the FX transaction rate applied, e.g. “USD 50 @ 3.71571, AED 185.79” or "1 GBP=AED 4.69553".
To understand the fees, you need to compare the FX rate you’ve been charged with the market rate. For an accurate comparison, you will need to use the historical market rate on the day of your transaction. The UAE Central Bank's historical FX rates are published here.
You can use this formula to give you the % you are being charged on FX transactions. Anything above 2% should ring alarm bells:
[(transaction rate – market rate) / market rate] * 100.
Get the transaction rate from the statement and the market rate from the CBUAE website. Multiplying by 100 simply converts the output into a percentage.
Alternatively, find your card’s T&Cs on your banks website and search for foreign spend charges. This should outline both the bank charges and network provider processing fees. Bear in mind that T&Cs aren’t always transparent, so using a real-life transaction will give you more certainty.
Best UAE cards for spending abroad?
We scanned the market for the best cards that don’t come with bank FX charges, only have the Mastercard / Visa processing fee and come with additional benefits.
Some of these cards come with annual fees, which can often be waived with minimum spend requirements. Always check if the cost/benefit comparison stacks up for you.
Credit card | FX fees | Annual fees | Comments |
2.99% bank charge, offset by 3% cashback on all foreign spend. | AED 300 | Annual fee is waived in year 1 and following years with min. spend. AED 9,000 minimum salary required. Includes airport lounge access. | |
0% bank charges and 0% network charges | AED 1,500 | AED 25,000 minimum salary required. Comes with great travel & cashback benefits. | |
0% bank charges, ca. 1.15% network charge | AED 787 for salary transfer customers, else AED 1,575 | AED 20,000 minimum salary required. This card also comes with great travel & cashback benefits. | |
0% bank charges, ca. 1.15% network charge | AED 1,050 | AED 20,000 minimum salary required. Includes airport lounge access and Dnata points. |
If you use other cards that come with attractive FX rates, do let us know. We’d love to hear.
IN THE NEWS - 'Tariffs' is the buzzword of the week. How will they impact life in the UAE?
The unique nature of this impending global trade war makes it hard to predict how things will exactly work out.
However, between the relatively low 10% rate applied by Trump on UAE imports and the relatively low amount of bilateral trade between the UAE and the US, there is hope that any impact will be minimal.
There are sectors that are more exposed though. The Khaleej Times has sought opinions from finance professionals on tariff impacts on the UAE in this article.
Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that this email does not constitute financial advice. Any choices you make you are solely responsible for. We always aim to provide highest quality, independent views but do your own research to ensure you’re comfortable with any changes you make to your personal finances.
